Department of Homeland Security
President Obama Urges Republicans to Help Bridge Bipartisan Divide on Immigration
Today, President Obama delivered his first major immigration speech at American University urging Republicans to put bipartisan and election politics aside and help Democrats fix our broken immigration system once and for all. With an audience of law enforcement, elected officials, and evangelical, business, labor, and community leaders, the President provided a framework for understanding the depth and complexity of the immigration issue—laying out the fundamental problems with our immigration system while highlighting the critical role immigrants have and continue to play in strengthening America. The President then asked Republican leadership to join his Administration’s efforts to step up, take responsibility and pass an immigration reform bill. Read More
Experts Agree that Border is More Secure than Ever: Now What?
A new report on border security issued by Center for American Progress adds yet more evidence to the argument that the U.S. government is already doing plenty about border security. Brick by Brick: A Half-Decade of Immigration Enforcement and the Need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, written by Former DHS Assistant Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Policy Stewart Verdery, details the range of programs that have been implemented in the last five years and their impact on the border. The report cautions, however, that securing the border is an elusive goal, and without comprehensive immigration reform, we will never achieve the real objectives needed to end illegal immigration. Read More
Secretary Napolitano Announces “Next Steps” for Southwest Border
Yesterday, President Obama sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally asking for $600 million in additional border security spending to fund 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents, 160 additional ICE agents, two unmanned aircraft systems, extra Border Patrol canine teams and improved infrastructure along the Southwest Border. In a tandem move today, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced several new DHS initiatives to bolster security along the Southwest border. Although Secretary Napolitano trumpeted DHS’s new border initiatives as well as past achievements, she also acknowledged that the border can never be hermetically sealed and that stalling immigration reform by highlighting border security issues is not the answer to our immigration problems. Read More
Deporting America’s Future: Harvard Student Pushes for DREAM Act
Harvard sophomore, Eric Balderas, knows why the DREAM Act is important to so many. Earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) picked up Balderas in Boston on his way to visit his mother in San Antonio, Texas. Balderas now faces the possibility of deportation at a hearing next month. The 19 year old biology major was valedictorian of his high school class and is on a full scholarship at Harvard. Sadly, Balderas is just one of roughly 1.5 million unauthorized immigrant children—many of whom don’t speak Spanish and consider themselves American—currently living in the U.S. who are at risk for deportation. How many of America’s talented youth must the U.S. deport before Congress musters the courage to act? Read More
New Report Sheds Light on Economic Value of Immigration
A report released yesterday by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), entitled The Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion, argues persuasively that immigration is a valuable economic resource. The report, by economist Giovanni Peri of the University of California, Davis, finds that “immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity, and income,” increasing the earnings of native-born workers in the long run (over ten years). However, the report notes that, during times of economic downturn, some native-born workers may be disadvantaged by the presence of immigrants in the short run (over one to two years). The report argues that these negative effects would be mitigated were the United States to create legal limits on immigration that rise and fall with actual labor demand. Read More
A Lopsided Approach to Border Violence Doesn’t Solve Anything
During a debate of the defense authorization bill this week, Republican members of Congress are expected to push for the deployment of even more troops to the border. This is in addition to the 1,200 National Guard troops President Obama already requested to address border violence and the flow of drugs and guns across the border last month. However, while advocating for the allocation of more money and manpower to “secure the border” may make for good campaigning in an election year, experts find that beefing up the border actually does little to curb border violence. In fact, these “get tough” border initiatives—more troops, fencing and operations that target non-violent border crossers—pull valuable resources away from solving violent crimes. Read More
More Detention Abuse Highlights Need for Federal Oversight
Last week, the Associated Press reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is investigating allegations of sexual assault by a guard in one of their facilities on female detainees. The detainees, on their way to be deported, were groped while being patted down and at least one was propositioned for sex, according to ICE officials. The guard in question has been fired, and ICE is pursuing additional remedies against him, including preventing the guard from obtaining future federal employment. This case, however, is just the latest reminder of what happens in a detention system with little to no Federal oversight. Read More
Presidents Agree: Law Enforcement Must Focus on Drug Cartels, Guns and Smugglers, Not Migrants
President Calderón's visit to the United States yesterday continues to highlight issues of immigration, border control and crime. Presidents Calderón and Obama made the important point that we should address, not conflate, these two important issues. Judging from President Obama’s remarks yesterday, he seems to understand that the horrific violence which currently afflicts our southern neighbor is a complex problem that requires a multi-faceted solution—that the violence is not about immigration but about the flow of guns, drugs and money across the borders. President Obama reaffirmed his administration's commitment "to stem the southbound flow of American guns and money" and to develop "new approaches to reducing the demand for drugs in our country," pledging to keep up law-enforcement pressure on the criminal gangs that "traffic in drugs, guns, and people." Read More
DHS Reverses Decision on Deportation Time Frame
In a sudden about-face last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reversed its position on an interpretation of law which drastically increased immigrants’ vulnerability to deportation. In a brief filed on April 21, DHS urged the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to modify an existing precedent decision in a pending BIA case, Matter of Alyazji. The modification, suggested by respondent’s attorney, Wayne Sachs, and amicus curiae, the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center, limits when an immigrant could be ordered deported for certain past crimes. Read More
Keeping the Dream Alive: Sens. Durbin and Lugar Ask Administration for Deferred Deportation for DREAM Act Kids
Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) have done something that is increasingly rare in Washington—they have issued a bipartisan request for a concrete change in immigration policy. Today, Senators Durbin and Lugar asked Secretary Janet Napolitano to defer deportation of students who would qualify for the DREAM Act. As the lead sponsors of this bipartisan legislation (S. 729)—which would give legal status to students who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 15, have lived in the U.S for at least five years, and are pursuing their education or serving in the military—they have a particular interest in the fate of students who are caught right now in the clutches of deportation. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
